fwalden
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Oh dear - where to start and what to add from the previous posts.
Just got back a little while ago. How quickly pre season enthusiasm can be extinguished so quickly.
Today's manor of defeat - I hate to confess but I left just before the goal so my daughter and I could beat the traffic - was tough to take, as despite our ineptitude in possession, direction and passion, I felt we defended well. Shrewsbury had the majority of possession, certainly got the best from the ref and had numerous set pieces which we dealt with well. We limited them to a couple of half chances at goal all game and nearly held out for what really would have been an undeserved and tepid draw.
So, the game itself. I thought the back 3 are proper defenders, old school defenders. Big, burly, no nonsense and completely hopeless on the ball. They couldn't pick a pass if their life depended on it - albeit Barnett happened to drop a sublime diagonal onto powells feet from a cool 40 yards but I'm not sure that it wasn't more luck than judgement. They won almost everything in the air thrown at them and believe me, there were so many balls thrown into the box from set plays I was surprised we didn't concede far sooner.
Poor Buchanan as has been said is not a wing-back. He is a solid left-back but does not have the pace and stamina to charge up the line like Spurs' Danny Rose.
David Cornell had a solid game but handling and catching may be an issue going forward but that is being over critical. To say he had the best distribution from anyone in the team is a shocking admission but at least he was able to play out JED's game plan of "hit the target man".
Unfair criticism on Rico. He did his best as the lone striker but believe me, no one could get the ball to his feet. He tussled well with defenders but blame cannot be placed at him alone. He will score goals for us this season.
Billy Waters is a class act and will be our saving grace this year. Tried hard but again, had to do most of the running, hold up play by himself to find no one and nothing at the end of it.
... and that's where the little praise ends. The rest of the team were completely ineffective.
I felt really sorry for Taylor. He must know in his mind that his body will no longer move the way he wants it to. Slow, laboured, off the pace. I'm sure when we read his 4-4-2 interview in a few years time that he will highlight this game as the day he knew he was finished.
No excuses however for Bowditch, Powell or Crooks. Bowditch was dreadful, powell anonymous for large periods and Crooks didn't really look interested if you ask me. I'm sure there is a player there who could easily dominate this division but doesn't look entirely fit or even sure what his role is in the team.
Kasim came on and showed a couple of nice touches but two dreadful corners and sadly another lacking any pace. Long tried hard but the game was long gone and we clearly accepted a draw with 20 mins to go. God knows why we took Waters off?!
Revell, akin Rico, tussled, ran around a bit and tried to get his head on the ball but despite a few aerial wins no one had the inclination to get on the end of it.
We can't play 5-3-2, we simply do not have the players for it. It really was a shambolic performance devoid of any structure, plan, direction, ability or passion. It was one-dimensional and relied on the gk and defence ploughing long balls up front with no real direction. It was dire and makes me extremely concerned about the season from this showing. I just hope we develop some better understanding but there was nothing today to fill anyone with any confidence, particularly with our style of play. All I can say is that defensively, I think we won't be broken down too easily but the direct nature of play and lack up talent further up the field may suggest we will sit deeper and deeper in games, particularly away from home! I do hope I am wrong?!?
God help us!
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Frederick Ingram "Fanny" Walden (1 March 1888 – 3 May 1949) was an English professional footballer who played on the right-wing for Northampton Town, Tottenham Hotspur and at international level for England during the 1910s and 1920s.
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Irchy cob
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Watching the goal on channel 5 reinforces my initial feeling - wtf was Powell doing not closing his man down for the cross?! Also, watching the goals from the other games shows that there is a lot of quality in this league which was all the more reason to actually show a bit of ambition to get 3 points today.
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Irchy cob
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Fwalden makes a good point above regarding our centre backs being very solid but poor on the ball - when playing this system it is critical that your full backs get up and down all match and that at least one of the centre backs is comfortable with the ball. Maybe going forward Poole will get a chance, bring a united player must mean he can bring the ball out of defence.
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everbrite
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Oh dear - where to start and what to add from the previous posts.
Just got back a little while ago. How quickly pre season enthusiasm can be extinguished so quickly.
Today's manor of defeat - I hate to confess but I left just before the goal so my daughter and I could beat the traffic - was tough to take, as despite our ineptitude in possession, direction and passion, I felt we defended well. Shrewsbury had the majority of possession, certainly got the best from the ref and had numerous set pieces which we dealt with well. We limited them to a couple of half chances at goal all game and nearly held out for what really would have been an undeserved and tepid draw.
So, the game itself. I thought the back 3 are proper defenders, old school defenders. Big, burly, no nonsense and completely hopeless on the ball. They couldn't pick a pass if their life depended on it - albeit Barnett happened to drop a sublime diagonal onto powells feet from a cool 40 yards but I'm not sure that it wasn't more luck than judgement. They won almost everything in the air thrown at them and believe me, there were so many balls thrown into the box from set plays I was surprised we didn't concede far sooner.
Poor Buchanan as has been said is not a wing-back. He is a solid left-back but does not have the pace and stamina to charge up the line like Spurs' Danny Rose.
David Cornell had a solid game but handling and catching may be an issue going forward but that is being over critical. To say he had the best distribution from anyone in the team is a shocking admission but at least he was able to play out JED's game plan of "hit the target man".
Unfair criticism on Rico. He did his best as the lone striker but believe me, no one could get the ball to his feet. He tussled well with defenders but blame cannot be placed at him alone. He will score goals for us this season.
Billy Waters is a class act and will be our saving grace this year. Tried hard but again, had to do most of the running, hold up play by himself to find no one and nothing at the end of it.
... and that's where the little praise ends. The rest of the team were completely ineffective.
Great report - brave enough to criticize Crooks as well. Sorry to edit the part I cannot bear to read. By the way read the Blackburn report; I posted a link above. Pretty sure it will make you smile!
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2020 Grand National S/S 3rd Place
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Tabasco Kid
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To be honest I do believe it. I guess when foley/Barnett/waters were signed they chose us because JED sold them the dream they would be starting for us. They could each have gone elsewhere but chose us. It can't be easy now telling a decent player such as Barnett sorry pal but things have changed you'll be on the bench. But, That's exactly what he must do and better managers than him would. He needs to pick his best 11 and stand his ground It's not as if he's lied to the players as such it's just that everything's changed. Problem is I can see it leading to disunity in the squad and I feel things will go downhill until the point that we get a new manager who can say I didn't sign any of you so I owe none of you anything Here is my strongest 11 Get on with it and if you are not in the team take a chance if it comes your way. If/when this happens we will see a decent team I just worry that the season may be a write of promotion wise before this happens Unless JED stamps his authority on the squad. Hard for him though given what's gone in signings wise.
Good post Shoey. My feelings also, and I expressed an opinion on here, and the chron web site, that I hope JED does not resort to becoming a "tinkerman" in order to keep everybody happy.
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Were in the pipe 5 by 5.
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guest47
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Referees are allowed to make mistakes week in, week out with no comeback. They should be forced to come out after the game and explain key decisions made during a particular game. Instead they just drive home and put their feet up and then do exactly the same the following week and Ruin some other clubs supporters weekends.
This really annoys me.
Except for the referee assessor at every game .
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Cobbler
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Just seen JED's quote after the game.
"It's disappointing to take but we have to move on and go again."
Remind anyone of anybody?
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corno_ntfc
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Just seen JED's quote after the game.
"It's disappointing to take but we have to move on and go again."
Remind anyone of anybody?
After 15 minutes it had the feeling of a Page-performance. No spine, no shape. At half-time was clear big changes were needed, they didn't really happen.
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Football WITHOUT Fans is NOTHING
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OldStratfordCobbler
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Well, I was there today and pretty much all the optimism of this new season seemed to be sucked out of the fans in the first 45mins. Where to start? Well I can't really remember us stringing more than 3 passes together. Our play seemed to revolve around hoofing it forward to Richards and that was about it.
Last year the lack of width in the way Edinburgh set his teams up was noticeable and I was hoping this would be addressed this season. Having watched that game though, we had zero width throughout the game and neither Bucks (who I think is a fantastic left back) or Powell look comfortable in the wing back position. Matt Taylor was dreadful today. We simply cannot start him, in afraid he isn't good enough for this level and spends the game as a passenger. He cannot tackle, seemingly cannot pass and I'm left questioning what he does offer other than the occasional decent free kick.
Today was beyond frustrating because the team Edinburgh has built holds so much promise on paper but the reality is that we were totally outplayed by Shrewsbury from beginning to end, a team we beat 4-2 last season with a team that was supposedly inferior to what we have at our disposal now.
I'm a big advocate in seeing where we are after the first 10 games of a season and go from there as this new team needs time to gel, time to learn the formation and time to build confidence. However, the warning signs are there and need to be addressed by Edinburgh as soon as possible.
I don't rate Cornell as a keeper but I thought he was our best player today. He pretty much dominated his area and was quick off his line when he needed to be. Obviously I don't expect him to be our no.1 for very much longer but I don't think any keeper could've prevented the defeat today with the shambles going on in front of him.
Oh well, onwards and upwards. As the great rob page would say...we go again!!
A well written, well constructed, sensible and accurate review in my opinion, northycobbler. I look forward to reading more of your posts.
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OldStratfordCobbler
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Spot on.
We have this every season. Lose a game and its panic stations, win and how long before we win the league. Sheffield united struggled for 5 games last season, but could someone remind me where they finished at the end of the season.
We will lose games, get over it people.
Correct! They lost 4 out of their first 5 games played.
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BackOfTheNet
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I wasn't there yesterday so not going to comment directly about it, but there's something that puzzles me. I think one of the very few things we can all actually agree on is that the calibre of recruitment done over the summer was very high. I think I've been pleased with all of the additions. We have a large set of talented players there, all of which have a decent amount of experience and a good reputation.
Yesterday, they were asked to go out on a pitch and play a game of football, something they've been doing all their lives. No more, no less; they might not win it, but you'd expect them to make a decent fist of trying. So how is it by all accounts that they got the basics so wrong? This is a genuine question because I really, honestly don't understand how a team of good professionals can conspire to put in such a poor performance.
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The Hotelend Grand National* Sweepstake Champion 2020
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meccanostand
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The only reason you play 3-5-2 if you have 2 s*** hot fast wing backs. We haven't so we shouldn't.
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guest1269
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I wasn't there yesterday so not going to comment directly about it, but there's something that puzzles me. I think one of the very few things we can all actually agree on is that the calibre of recruitment done over the summer was very high. I think I've been pleased with all of the additions. We have a large set of talented players there, all of which have a decent amount of experience and a good reputation.
Yesterday, they were asked to go out on a pitch and play a game of football, something they've been doing all their lives. No more, no less; they might not win it, but you'd expect them to make a decent fist of trying. So how is it by all accounts that they got the basics so wrong? This is a genuine question because I really, honestly don't understand how a team of good professionals can conspire to put in such a poor performance.
I'm afraid this has to go back to JED - the formation & team selection didn't help but the absolute shocking lack of vision has to reflect on tactics and/or motivation - and that is the managers responsibility.
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Vintage Cobbler
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I am not among those hotheads calling for JED's head and/or being highly critical of him - yet. One area of concern is that our away record under him has been very poor and needs to improve. Yesterday was a continuation of that away form. Whether it is the formation or wrong selections in key positions is difficult to know but as others have commented Buchanan is not a wing back and if we are to persist with 3-5-2 or a variation of it Buchanan is not the man for the wing back role. Clearly, the return of Maloney & JJOT is important but that may be a few weeks away.
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meccanostand
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JED is not popular. 3-5-2 is not popular. Not a great start is it.
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Vintage Cobbler
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I would say the jury is out on JED but I have no sense from the supporters around me that he is unpopular. All I am saying is that the squad he has recruited is his responsibility now and there can be no excuses. We will have a better idea by the end of September.
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defender
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Well I disagree as 5-3-2 system is a very fluid and flexible system; JE's problem today was that overall it was poor individual performance by 50% of the team. To me it was pretty clear that the players knew how to play the system but.....err their final touch deserted them! Taylor, Richard, Bowditch as we all know by now were terrible with Buchs and Powell not much better. We resorted to hoofing the ball at every opportunity and we all know what happens when we do that.
For what t it's worth, I do lik the 3-5-2 line up.
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guest3063
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Except for the referee assessor at every game .
I've never found out what they actually do. s*** referees just continue being s*** referees, they make no difference, from what I've seen.
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everbrite
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Clearly they dont then.
Clearly they did football basics deserted them on the day. What you think of Cornell performance?
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2020 Grand National S/S 3rd Place
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